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Prota 7(1): Timbers/Bois d’œuvre 1 Record display |
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Protologue Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 36: 217 (1905). Family Simaroubaceae Origin and geographic distribution Nothospondias staudtii is distributed from Côte d’Ivoire eastward to DR Congo. Uses The wood of Nothospondias staudtii is considered suitable for carpentry, but it seems little used. Properties The wood is yellow, fairly hard and fibrous. It is easy to work. Leaf extracts have shown in-vivo analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities in mice and rats. Botany Dioecious small to medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall; bole branchless for up to 10 m, cylindrical, straight, up to 50 cm in diameter; outer bark smooth, bright grey with white and green spots; branches erect. Leaves arranged spirally, clustered at ends of branches, imparipinnately compound with 9–21 pairs of leaflets; stipules absent; petiole and rachis 50–120 cm long; petiolules 5–11 mm long; leaflets opposite to alternate, obliquely oblong-elliptical, 10–21 cm × 4–10 cm, base asymmetrical, apex acuminate, papery, glabrous, pinnately veined with c. 10 pairs of lateral veins. Inflorescence a lax terminal panicle up to 70 cm long and 80 cm wide at base, with shortly hairy axes; bracts ovate, 1–1.5 mm × 1 mm. Flowers unisexual, regular, 4-merous; pedicel 2–5 mm long, jointed at base; calyx campanulate, c. 1.5 mm long, with short, ovate lobes; petals oblong-obovate, 4–6 mm × 1.5–2 mm, yellow; stamens in 2 rows of 4, 4–7 mm long; ovary superior, consisting of 4 free carpels, 1(–2) developing into fruit. Fruit an ovoid-ellipsoid drupe 2–2.5 cm × 1.5–2 cm, yellow-orange at maturity, 1-seeded. Seeds oblong-ellipsoid, 1.5–2 cm × c. 1 cm, testa papery, brown. Nothospondias comprises only 1 species. Ecology Nothospondias staudtii occurs in the understorey of forest, often along watercourses. Genetic resources and breeding Nothospondias staudtii is relatively widespread but rare in some countries, e.g. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. It is classified as vulnerable in the IUCN Red list of threatened species. Prospects At present Nothospondias staudtii seems to be not much used as a source of timber, and in view of its vulnerability and its often small size this will not change. Major references • Aubréville, A., 1962. Simaroubacées. Flore du Gabon. Volume 3. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. pp. 33–52. • Burkill, H.M., 2000. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 5, Families S–Z, Addenda. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 686 pp. • van der Veken, P., 1960. Nothospondias Engl., Simaroubacée africaine méconnue. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de l’Etat (Bruxelles) 30: 105–109. Other references • Hawthorne, W.D., 1995. Ecological profiles of Ghanaian forest trees. Tropical Forestry Papers 29. Oxford Forestry Institute, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. 345 pp. • Hawthorne, W., 1998. Nothospondias staudtii. In: IUCN. 2006 Red list of threatened species. [Internet] http://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed June 2006. • Keay, R.W.J., 1958. Anacardiaceae. In: Keay, R.W.J. (Editor). Flora of West Tropical Africa. Volume 1, part 2. 2nd Edition. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom. pp. 726–739. • Owoyele, B.V., Olaleye, S.B., Oke, J.M. & Elegbe, R.A., 2004. Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of Nothospondias staudtii. Nigerian Journal of Physiological Sciences 19(1–2): 102–105. Author(s)
Editors
Correct citation of this article: Brink, M., 2007. Nothospondias staudtii Engl. In: Louppe, D., Oteng-Amoako, A.A. & Brink, M. (Editors). Prota 7(1): Timbers/Bois d’œuvre 1. [CD-Rom]. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands. |